$100 in 1917 is worth $140 in 1921,
because prices increased 39.8% over that period, an average of
8.75% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$140
in 1921
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
39.8%
Average inflation rate
8.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$140
Price difference ($100 base)
$39.84
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1921
17.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
$100 in 1917 → 1921
$140
$100 in 1921 → 1917
$71.51
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1921
Between 1917 and 1921, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 17.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 39.8%, which works out to an average of
8.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.72 buys in 1921: the 1917 dollar
lost 28.5% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
1917 is when World War I inflation stopped being a background trend and
became the dominant fact of American economic life. Consumer prices rose
17.4% for the year, more than double the previous year’s already sharp
increase, as the country’s April 6 entry into the war layered federal war
spending on top of an economy already strained by military demand and
worker shortages. Congress paid for the war with the War Revenue Act that
October, which sharply raised income taxes, created a new tax on wartime
business profits, and, in a small but very visible change for ordinary
households, raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 2 cents to 3 cents
that November, the rate’s first move since 1885. Herbert Hoover took over
the new Food Administration in August and asked Americans to conserve food
voluntarily rather than face formal rationing, a campaign that became
famous enough that “Hooverize” entered the language as a verb for cutting
back. None of it slowed prices much: the 17.4% increase would be topped
again the very next year, in 1918.
Every 1917 amount converts to 1921 at the same ratio, 1.40: $1,000 becomes
$1,398, and $10,000 becomes $13,984.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1921
$1.00
$1.40
$5.00
$6.99
$10.00
$13.98
$20.00
$27.97
$50.00
$69.92
$100
$140
$500
$699
$1,000
$1,398
$5,000
$6,992
$10,000
$13,984
$100,000
$139,844
$1,000,000
$1,398,437
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1921
Between 1917 and 1921, apparel rose the most, up 64.4%, while food rose the least, up 9.7%, against 39.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1921, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
8.75%
$140
Apparel
13.23%
$164
Food
2.33%
$110
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1917: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1917 to 1921
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (10.5% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1921 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1921
-10.50%
-10.5%
$140
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $135 by
1919, on its way to $140 in 1921; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1921, prices fell 10.5% and $100 from 1917 had the buying
power of $140; the year's average CPI of 17.9 is the level
behind every 1921 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1917 to 1921: $100 is worth $140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1921/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1921. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1921/